Jan 18, 2018

Spicy Rigatoni

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 2 hours
Rigatoni pasta is served tossed in a spicy, creamy sauce with onion soubise, tomatoes, cream and a touch of calabrian chilies for just the right spice in this recipe similar to Carbone's famous dish.
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If you have ever been to NYC’s Italian restaurant Carbone then you have definitely had their famous spicy rigatoni. You can’t make the trip without ordering it. At Carbone, the house-made rigatoni is tossed in a chunky, spicy bright orange sauce the color of the Hermés logo; and it tastes just as luxurious.

Spicy Rigatoni

What is spicy rigatoni sauce?

While some refer to it as a spicy vodka sauce, it’s more than that! (Plus the Carbone spicy rigatoni recipe doesn’t actually use vodka in their sauce). It’s different than other vodka sauces that I’ve had and is definitely spicier. I would describe it as a creamy arrabbiata sauce. After trying the dish at the restaurant I knew that I had to find a way to recreate a similar version of the recipe to satiate my carb cravings.

Restaurant’s like Los Angeles hot spot Jon + Vinny’s have a similar spicy fusili pasta where a similar sauce is served pureed until smooth before it’s tossed with the pasta.

Pro tip: you can have them add burrata to theirs! Try it at home with this recipe.

What’s in spicy rigatoni sauce?

  • Onion soubise (slow simmered onions)
  • Garlic
  • Whole peeled tomatoes
  • Cream
  • Calabrian chili
  • Crushed red pepper
spicy rigatoni in sauté pan with creamy red sauce and whole onions on side

What is onion soubise?

My personal mission was to create a comparable dupe sauce to the one I found myself craving. The base of the sauce is an onion soubise, an easy, three-ingredient French sauce. The onions are cooked over a long period of time at a low heat until they become tender and flavorful. Onion soubise is classically puréed with cream as an accompaniment to meat such as a seared steak or roast chicken.

The goal isn’t to put color on the onions but to coax out the flavor so don’t try to rush it. I know an hour and a half seems like a long time but it’s not an error. It takes time for the onions to break down! Make the onion mixture a few days ahead of time and reheat when needed in order to minimize the day of prep.

Key Ingredients in This Recipe

  • Onions – Yellow onions are a great all purpose cooking onion. I use them in this recipe for the mellow flavor.
  • Calabrian chili paste – This spicy mixture is made from crushed and oil-packed Calabrian chili peppers; a smoky and sweet pepper that adds a lot a flavor and just the right amount of spice. Be careful, a little goes a long way. Find it online here.
  • Whole peeled tomatoes – Canned whole peeled tomatoes are made with tomatoes that are picked when ripe then cooked and peeled before they are canned and packed in tomato juice or tomato puree.
  • Tomato paste – Tomato paste adds a concentrated tomato flavor.
  • Cream – While I like the texture and flavor the cream adds, you can simply omit the cream and butter for a dairy-free sauce.

How to make spicy rigatoni

onion soubise
Step 1: Make onion soubise. 

Heat a medium saucepan over low heat. Add the butter, ½ cup of water and the onions to the pan. Continue to simmer the onions over low heat, stirring occasionally, until they are tender, about 1½ hours. Season with salt then set aside and let cool.

Step 2: Sauté garlic. 

In a large pot over medium heat add the olive oil and heat through. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant, just a few seconds.

sautéed garlic
simmered tomato sauce
Step 3: Simmer tomato sauce. 

Add the tomato paste, the tomatoes and sugar, stirring to combine. Let simmer for 15 minutes, breaking up any large pieces of tomato with the back of the spoon. Season to taste with salt.

Step 4: Add onion soubise, cream and chili. 

Add the onion mixture to the pot and stir to combine then whisk in the cream, chili paste and chili flakes.

spicy rigatoni all'arrabbiata sauce
rigatoni noodles
Step 5: Cook the pasta. 

Bring a large pot of water to a boil; add the salt and bring back to the boil. Add the pasta and cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente, about 8 minutes. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water then drain, and return the pasta to the pot.

Step 6: Assemble pasta and sauce. 

Ladle the sauce over the top and toss to combine, cooking for an additional minute. If the sauce is too thick, add the pasta water 2 tablespoons at a time to thin the sauce.

spicy rigatoni with sauce in pan
spicy rigatoni in bright orange red tomato sauce closeup
Step 7: Serve.

Serve the spicy rigatoni hot in warmed pasta bowls with grated Parmesan cheese (optional).

FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions

What if I can’t find calabrian chilies? 

While they are becoming more widely available (Trader Joe’s Bomba sauce is a good substitute) if you can’t track down Calabrian chili paste then I’d recommend finely chopping fire roasted red peppers and stirring them together with crushed red pepper flakes to form a paste. It won’t have the exact same flavor but it will do in a pinch.

If you can’t find calabrian chili paste at your local store I’d recommend ordering a jar from Williams Sonoma or Amazon. If you can only find whole jarred Calabrian chilies, simply remove the stems and finely chop them.

Do I really need to simmer the onions for that long?

Yes! Slowly cooking them coaxes out the subtle, sweet onion flavor and turns it into a buttery, jam-like consistency. It mellows the harsh flavor of onions. You don’t want caramelized onions for this.

Should I add olive oil to my pasta water?

No! You want this sauce to bind to the noodles – this is aided by the addition of the pasta water. Adding oil when cooking the noodles will make them slippery and the sauce won’t stick as well. 

How is this creamy arrabiata sauce different from vodka sauce?

Vodka sauce such as this one here don’t typically have whole tomatoes, the base of the sauce is just tomato paste and cream flavored by shallots, a touch of vodka and red pepper. This creamy arrabbiata sauce (spicy tomato sauce) gets it’s flavor from the slowly simmered onions while the spice comes from the Calabrian chilies and red pepper flakes. 

Can I blend the sauce?

Yes! If you like a creamier, silky sauce, then throw all or half the sauce into the blender. This will make the sauce be more similar to the famed pasta dish from Jon & Vinny’s in Los Angeles.

What else can I do with Calabrian chilies once I’ve bought them?

Try my Angry bee pizza with Calabrian chilies and honey, this porchetta, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich with calabrian chili ketchup, spicy Calabrian chili beef ragu or this Italian sloppy Joe.

spicy rigatoni recipe from cooking with cocktail rings pasta dinner

Other Recipes to Try

If you enjoy this spicy rigatoni recipe, I recommend checking out some of these:

Spicy Rigatoni

Print Pin
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 2 hours
Serves 6

Ingredients:

  • 2 medium yellow onions, halved and thinly sliced
  • 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • Kosher salt, as needed
  • ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 2 (28-ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes, drained and roughly chopped
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • ½ cup heavy cream
  • 2 tablespoons Calabrian chili paste
  • ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
  • 1 pound rigatoni (or penne, lumache or pipe rigate)
  • Grated Parmesan, for serving, as desired

Instructions:

  • Heat a medium saucepan over low heat. Add the butter, ½ cup of water and the onions to the pan. Continue to simmer the onions over low heat, stirring occasionally, until they are tender, about 1½ hours. Season with salt then set aside and let cool.
  • In a large pot over medium heat add the olive oil and heat through. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant, just a few seconds.
  • Add the tomato paste, the tomatoes and sugar, stirring to combine. Let simmer for 15 minutes, breaking up any large pieces of tomato. Season to taste with salt.
  • Add the onion mixture to the pot and stir to combine then whisk in the cream, chili paste and chili flakes.
  • Bring a large pot of water to a boil; add the salt and bring back to the boil. Add the pasta and cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente, about 8 minutes. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water then drain, and return the pasta to the pot.
  • Ladle the sauce over the top and toss to combine, cooking for an additional minute. If the sauce is too thick, add the pasta water 2 tablespoons at a time to thin the sauce.
  • Serve the spicy rigatoni hot in warmed pasta bowls topped with grated Parmesan (optional).

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Recipe Rating




  1. 5 stars
    Yummmm! My husband + I made this as part of one of cookingwithcocktailring’s valentines day menus! soo tasty. the 1.5 hours on the onions is worth it, and actually pretty easy to do in the background of other various meal prep 🙂

  2. This recipe NEVER disappoints! One or my favorites for sure!!! Made it for a relative having surgery on Friday but had to take a little for me!!

  3. This looks delicious! I am having a hard time finding Calabrian Chili Paste and wanted to make this for NYE tomorrow so ordering online is not an option. If I were to substitute with Chili Pepper flakes, how much would you recommend using? Would you use the full 2 tbsp? Thanks!!

    • I hope you were still able to make and enjoy the recipe, apologies for the delayed response! I would recommend using about 1 tbsp and testing out the spice level before adding more! Since they are just the pepper flakes and not the full crushed peppers they will likely carry more heat!

  4. I’m excited to try this recipe but just have a question about the calabrian chili paste! The trader joes Bomba sauce is fermented, will that change the flavor of the dish? I couldn’t find calabrian chili paste anywhere but do have a trader joes nearby, just don’t want to alter the flavors. Thank you!

    • While there is nothing quite the same as the flavor of Calabrian chilies a mix of finely chopped roasted red peppers (packed in oil) & crushed red pepper flakes should be similar enough!! Trader Joe’s now carries calabrian chili paste – they call it "Italian Bomba hot pepper sauce". Hope this helps!

    • I know it seems like a very long time but it is 90 minutes/ 1 1/2 hours! Rather than caramelizing and sautéing the onions/ they are simmered in the butter/ water mixture until they break down and from an onion soubise.

  5. What about grating the onions in a food processor before hand or puréeing the onion sauce before putting into the tomato sauce. I feel like the carbone dish is just the orange sauce instead of sauce and visible onions.

    • If you want to go that route I would recommend puréeing the onions into the sauce before adding the cream. The onions cook down so much the sauce is pretty smooth but it’s totally up to preference!

  6. I’ve been wanting to recreate this recipe since my husband and I tried this at carbone, and your recipe is perfect to a T. We thought it came out as good as, if not better! That onion soubise was key, and the Calabrian chili – thanks for not shying away from the heat!

  7. Loved this recipe. Waiting for the onions was worth it. I like mine a little less sweet so next time will put half the amount of sugar. Thanks for a cheaper Carbone alternative! Hah

  8. I’m having withdrawals from this pasta too and was looking to find the recipe online. I was certain there were bell peppers in the sauce too! Did you leave them out of your recipe or am I just crazy? Haha

    • It’s the best pasta! Worth the time that goes into it. No bell peppers 🙂 there are calabrian chiles in the recipe and they give it some spice but no bell peppers in the OG. Hope you enjoy!!

  9. Hi,

    Just checking this isn’t a mistake. "Continue to simmer the onions over low heat, stirring occasionally, until they are tender, about 1½ hours."

    1-1/2 hours?!? Really?

  10. This looks amazing! The spicy rigatoni was an absolute favorite when I went to Carbone as well. I didn’t realize they had a Las Vegas location; I’ve only been to the one in NYC.